The Way The World Works
Posted on 2003-05-18
I think we are capable of fooling ourselves in a lot of different ways.
People talk about what makes a child an adult, as if there is some physical, emotional or mental barrier we have to cross, but I tell you this, and if you are honest with yourself you will know it is true: the thing that makes us an adult is our ability to delude ourselves.
That's all.
Children know what they are. Try telling a fat kid he looks good, or a child who is bad at sports that he just needs to try harder. He knows better. But as adults we start to believe the bullshit.
We tell ourselves that cheating on our taxes isn't really stealing, and that the job candidate with the blonde hair and long legs really is a better choice for the company. We look at our lives and pretend that we aren't money hungry and consumed by status, that we have kept morals and ethics from our school years, that we are healthy and not fat, that it doesn't hurt if he/she doesn't know, that it's not really lying if he/she doesn't find out, that we deserve a break now and again, that we had no choice, meant no harm, didn't know what would happen, would take it back if we could, that we are still open minded and easy going and not afraid.
We come up with justifications for everything we do in life after it has happened, then we convince ourselves that these things are true. We pretend that we are doing the best that we can.
But every man and woman will one day die the death of their own making. That's the way the world works.